Atlantic Canadians on social assistance needed more help from budgets, advocates say
Atlantic Canada is home to the lowest social assistance rates in the country, and advocates say provincial budgets presented this week didn't do much to change that.
Robert MacKay said the modest increases to income assistance in New Brunswick's provincial budget won't make much of an impact on him. The community co-chair of the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice said he gets about $593 a month through the program, which he said isn't enough to cover basic food and living expenses.
The increase in Tuesday's budget works out to about $40 a month, leaving him "barely treading water."
"Right now, people, myself included, are just rubbing two nickels together at the end of the month -- if that -- living in rooming houses, that sort of thing, just to stay within any kind of a budget," MacKay said in an interview Friday.
A report from Toronto-based anti-poverty organization Maytree shows that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had the lowest social assistance rates in the country in 2021. New Brunswick offered the lowest rates: a single person considered employable received about $7,500 a year, and a single person with a disability made about $10,300. In Nova Scotia, a single employable person received about $8,400 a year, and a single person on disability got $11,560.
The poverty line in New Brunswick sits at around $22,400 for a single person, the Maytree report said.
With climbing food prices, MacKay said he's relying on credit to supplement his social assistance cheques. When he's able to work, he uses his wages to pay down debt.
Janelle LeBlanc, also with the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice, described the province's social assistance rates as "inhumane."
"People are living in extreme poverty," she said. "You can't live on that."
Alec Stratford, chair of the Nova Scotia Action Coalition for Community Well-Being, said it was "socially and fiscally reckless" for the Nova Scotia government not to include social assistance increases in its budget Thursday.
The government's decision to keep rates constant when the cost of living is soaring "increases despair" for those relying on social assistance, he said.
"I think it reinforces their belief already that nobody cares," he said in an interview Friday. "It increases stigmatization and isolation."
Low social assistance rates end up costing the province in other ways, because people living in poverty often require other government-funded services, Stratford said.
Both groups would like to see governments increase social assistance rates to match the poverty line.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
OPINION What King Charles' schedule being too 'full' to accommodate son suggests about relationship with Prince Harry
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
Ontario man devastated to learn $150,000 line of credit isn't insured after wife dies
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Boy Scouts of America is rebranding. Here's why they're now named Scouting America
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Rape, terror and death at sea: How a boat carrying Rohingya children, women and men capsized
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
'A huge difference': These adults born in the '90s partnered with their parents to buy homes in Ontario
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
For their protection, immigrants critical of China and India call for speedy passage of Canada's foreign interference legislation
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
How Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap beef escalated within weeks
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.